Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoeric albrecht | DISPATCHDarris Blackford, a resident of the Clintonville neighborhood and the race director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon, has completed 170 marathons and six 100-milers.

It was even more challenging than he expected, but Darris Blackford completed a 135-mile race
that spanned 40 hours and his 50th birthday.

The director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon achieved his longtime
dream of finishing the Badwater Ultramarathon — “the world’s toughest footrace” — in the scorching
desert of Death Valley, Calif.

His time of 40 hours, 16 minutes proved about 10 hours slower than Blackford had hoped,
having been slowed by the need to rest more often than anticipated and by unexpectedly strong
headwinds as he ran uphill.

He had spent many hours preparing in a sauna but still struggled with the 120-degree air
temperatures and the blazing road surface beneath his feet, said to be at least 170 degrees.

“Everything in my training was absolutely perfect to get me to where I was, but there’s still
no way to prepare,” said Blackford, who lives in the Clintonville neighborhood. “All it does is
delay the inevitable: You’re going to suffer.”

Along the course, which included 13,000 feet of elevation changes, Blackford took five breaks
to lie down and rest. Each time, he said, he didn’t think he could continue.

He then recalled the words of encouragement from friends and family collected by his wife,
Star, who drove ahead of him as a member of his support crew.

The attention that his feat had drawn — between Blackford spreading the word himself and
a
Dispatch story on Monday — also helped keep him motivated.

“If you ever want to put yourself into something you don’t think you can do, tell a bunch of
people,” he joked.

Members of Blackford’s crew took turns accompanying him up the steep 13-mile ascent on Mount
Whitney. All six ran the last mile with him.

When Blackford reached the finish, his goal time no longer mattered.

“Finishing it is such an accomplishment that I will always look back on it fondly,” he said.